500 Miles


"500 Miles" is a song made popular in the United States and Europe during the 1960s folk revival. The simple repetitive lyrics offer a lament by a traveler who is far from home, out of money, and too ashamed to return. In a May 1963 interview on Folk Music Worldwide, Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary characterized the song, which appeared on the group's 1962 debut album, as "a reflection of loneliness."

History

The song is generally credited as being written by Hedy West, and a 1961 copyright is held by Atzal Music, Inc. "500 Miles" is West's "most anthologized song". Some recordings have also credited Curly Williams, or John Phillips as co-writers, although Phillips admitted he had only rearranged it and "didn't deserve the credit". David Neale writes that "500 Miles" may be related to the older folk song "900 Miles", which may itself have origins in the Southern American fiddle tunes "Reuben's Train" and "Train 45". Johnny Cash is known to have included "500 Miles" on his list of 100 essential country songs in the early 1970s.
Folklorist Norm Cohen writes that a distance of 900 miles, rather than 500, is most commonly referenced in versions of the traditional song, but other distances, including 400 miles and 10,000 miles also appear.
The melody of "500 Miles" is very close to that of “You’ll Never Miss Your Mother Till She’s Gone", written by Harry Birch, an alias of Charles A. White, and published by White, Smith, and Company of Boston, Massachusetts in 1885. Both "You'll Never Miss Your Mother Till She's Gone" and "900 Miles" were first recorded by Fiddlin' John Carson in 1923-4.

Bobby Bare version

The most commercially successful version of the song was Bobby Bare's in 1963. His version became a top-10 hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, as well as a top-five hit on both the Country and Adult Contemporary charts.

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Other cover versions

Albanian

Ilirët sang the song in Albanian.

Assamese

sang in Assamese "Ketiyaba Bejarote" in 1962.
Again, in 2018, Zubeen Garg sang "Kot Mur Maa" for a drama of Aawahan Mobile Theatre group.

Bengali

Bengali singer Anjan Dutt sung the song in Bengali called "Mr. Hall" in his 1997 album Keu Gaan Gaye.

Chinese

In 2017, a Chinese adaptation of the song called "别送我" was released on the soundtrack of Duckweed and sung by Chen Hongyu, Su Zixu, Liu Hao Lin, and Han Luo.

Czech

A Czech version was recorded in 1967 as "Tisíc mil" with the lyrics by Ivo Fischer, sung as a duet by Waldemar Matuška and Helena Vondráčková. and other version 500 mil performed by Rangers-Plavci

Finnish

In Finnish, the song has been recorded under at least five different scores, by Jukka Raitanen. This time, it was called "Liian kaukana". Lyrics were written by Raul Reiman. This song was released on Raitanen's album Yölinjalla. "Yölinjalla" song is a Finnish version of the song "I Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash.
Moreover, "500 Miles" has also been released with religious content under the name "Lapsuuden usko", with lyrics by Matti Nyberg. This version has been recorded at least three times in 1973, 2005, and 2011. It was released by a parish singer group Dominicones in 1973. In 2005 it was recorded by actor and singer Mikko Leppilampi. The song was released on album Tilkkutäkki, and targeted to people who want to remember the time of their confirmation on Lutheran church. In 2011, it was recorded by Petrus in his album Enkelten laulut.

French

The song was adapted by lyricist Jacques Plante under the title Et j'entends siffler le train. It was sung by Richard Anthony, who had a hit with it. His recording reached number one in France in 1962. According to Richard Anthony, the song struck a chord with young French soldiers who were leaving for the Algerian War.
Hugues Aufray also sang it, but his version was not as successful. Anthony's version was covered by Franco Battiato on his 1999 album Fleurs. In 2011, Hugues Aufray rerecorded the song in a duet with Françoise Hardy on his album Troubadour since 1948.

German

In 1963 a German version, "Und dein Zug fährt durch die Nacht", was a success for Peter Beil. Also in German, Santiano in 2012 released a marine-themed version, "500 Meilen", on their album Bis ans Ende der Welt.

Hebrew

A Hebrew version by Aviva Marks is called, "500 מייל" in 1966. The meaning of the name is "500 Miles", and it came part of her album Sweeter than Wine. The song is mostly translation to Hebrew.

Hindi

Indian composer Rajesh Roshan used the tune to compose "Jab Koyi Baat Bigad Jaaye" in 1990's movie Jurm.

Indonesian

The tune of this song has been used in religious contents in Indonesia, in the widely popular book of songs and praise for Catholics in Indonesia, Madah Bakti, song number 366 "Ya Tuhan Kami Datang".

Japanese

The Japanese duo Wink included it as the B side of their 1989 single, under the title. In 2018, Japanese singer Kiyoe Yoshioka sang a Japanese version of the song, "500 Mairu" on her debut album Uta Iro.

Slovenian

Slovene singer Lado Leskovar wrote a 1965 hit based on the song titled "Poslednji vlak".

Spanish

Costa Rican rock band Los Rufos recorded a Spanish version under the title "500 Millas" in 1967. A similar version was recorded by the Nicaraguan band Los Rockets.

Vietnamese

Two versions in Vietnamese have been recorded. One is "Tiễn em lần cuối" sung by Trung Hanh; another one is "Người tình ngàn dặm" sung by Ngọc Lan.

In media

's version of the song was used in:
  • Rocky Mountain Express: 2011 Canadian film, which chronicles the early history of the Canadian Pacific Railway while following restored steam locomotive Canadian Pacific 2816 along the route.
  • Mr Inbetween: 2018-21 Australian TV series used it in season two, episode eight: "You'll See Me in Your Dreams".
  • Professor T.: 2021 Crime Drama featuring Ben Miller used the version in season one, episode four: "Mother Love".
  • In the 2022 film Bullet Train, a version of the song is used by Song For Memories.
  • Episode four in season two of the BBC Drama The Responder ends with The Journeymen version of the song.